


Improved

by ghostmateria



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Aerith is SOLDIER, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Gore, Child Soldiers, Human Experimentation, Post-Battle, Science Experiments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-28 12:31:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14449344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostmateria/pseuds/ghostmateria
Summary: IMPROVED. For years she had accepted that word as the simplest summary of Hojo and Hollander’s science. Improved meant faster and stronger — the polished and shining label given to the three she stood beside on the battlefield.





	Improved

**Author's Note:**

> This is copied from my (inactive) Aerith tumblr rp blog, set in an AU verse I started developing where she is a member of SOLDIER. The use of emdashes is something I did a lot in my rp writing but won't continue into fics because I find it a bit clunky, so sorry about that! Details of this AU are in the notes at the end of the work. I hope to flesh it out more one day into a multi-chapter fic but for now have this little snippet. Please note that the scenes described, whilst not particularly graphic, could be confronting. Blood and death as you would expect in the aftermath of battle.

IMPROVED.

For years she had accepted that word as the simplest summary of Hojo and Hollander’s science. Improved meant  _ faster  _ and  _ stronger  _ — the polished and shining label given to the three she stood beside on the battlefield. Improved meant to be better at the task assigned to them by Gaia’s ruling corporation — a demonstration of unshakeable might through whatever force required.

She could still see them clearly from her position the edge of the carnage, a step away from being mired in crimson-soaked mud. Three blood-spattered titans against which no enemy combatant had stood for longer than a second. As waves crash against basalt cliffs, their opponents had broken apart into a scattered wash of death and destruction. Unbidden tears fill large green eyes as Aerith tried to steel herself against the sights and stench and sounds of battle’s aftermath.

A wise and worldy thirteen year-old  — stripped of youthful innocence — Aerith now knew that “Improved” was no longer the right word.  _ Distorted. Twisted. Cursed _ . A terrifying thought, and what did that make her? Where they were the ones modified, she was naturally Special.

> **Aerith Gainsborough.**
> 
> **SOLDIER First Class: Special Designation C.**

_ C stood for Cleric _ , at least that’s what it said in the files she had security clearance to review. Special and not Improved, like the others. A unique member of the elite, tasked to keep Shinra’s living-weapons — the other Firsts — in fighting-fit form.

Not that her presence was warranted on a day like this, when all three took to the front-lines at once. Even at this distance she could tell they had come through _ physically unscathed _ . Heal them, bolster them, protect them. _ Clean up after them. _ In the absence of any injuries to treat she only had one more duty, the worst. 

Each step towards the other members of SOLDIER was a gruesome ordeal, slipping and stumbling and barely swallowing back  _ the bile in her throat _ . By the time she reached them the bottom half of her alabaster coat was dyed as red as the one worn by the fire-wielding swordsman. No words are spoken in greeting, they knew how the smallest member of the elite detested the next part and so they waited for her in silent support. A terrifying matching set — grim and weary and maybe not nearly as unscathed as they looked.

> _ “I love you my daughter. You’re strong, you’re pure. I know you’ll make me proud.” _ The final words of Gast Faremis before he was taken from her, killed by the enemies of Shinra; or so Professor Hojo had callously informed a weeping ten year old.

By all accounts her father had served the corporation loyally to the end, even after the tragic loss of the mother she could barely remember. So Aerith would serve too. She would ignore the ancient voices in her head derisive and angry. She would ignore the echo of a woman’s familiar voice desperate with pleading cries.

> _ ‘I’ll make you proud papa.’ _

There is only a slight tremble visible as the teenager lifts up her arms and calls down a rain of lightning — a merciful end to what was left after her companion’s violence. The screams of wounded and dying finally fall silent, or is it just that they are  _ drowned out by the screams of a planet _ .

**Author's Note:**

> As a rough outline: Gast never escapes with Ifalna and his child. Aerith is raised alongside Sephiroth at the Nibel mansion, with her father remaining to ensure she is merely tested and not modified in any way. Ifalna dies when Aerith is very young and she is mostly guided by the influence of Gast and Hojo as the adults in her life. At the age of 10 her father also passes away, Aerith being told that it was at the hands of Shinra's enemies - solidifying her loyalty to the corporation. Later becomes a unique member of the SOLDIER First Class ranks, tasked with healing and support for the other three (and later Zack when he joins).


End file.
